CRS Provides Overview of Int’l Trade Agreements and U.S. Trade Laws
The Congressional Research Service has issued a report entitled “Trade Law: An Introduction to Selected International Agreements and U.S. Laws,” which provides an introductory overview of the legal framework governing trade-related measures.
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CRS reports that U.S. trade obligations derive from international trade agreements, including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the other World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, and additional bilateral and regional trade agreements, as well as domestic laws intended to implement those agreements or effectuate U.S. trade policy goals.
Agreements Reduce Use of Trade Barriers, Allow Remedies for Unfair Trade
According to CRS, historically, parties to international trade agreements are obligated to reduce two kinds of trade barriers: tariff and non-tariff trade barriers. At their most basic, international trade agreements obligate their parties to convert at least some of their non-tariff trade barriers into tariffs, set a ceiling on the tariff rates for particular products, and then progressively reduce those rates over time.
CRS states that the typical international trade agreement today disciplines its parties' use of tariffs and trade barriers, authorizes its parties to use discriminatory trade measures to remedy certain unfair trade practices, and establishes a dispute settlement body.
International trade agreements have also increasingly broadened their scope to target domestic policies that appear to operate as unfair trade practices and to establish elaborate trade dispute settlement mechanisms.
U.S. Laws Authorize Remedies/Sanctions, Set Tariffs/Preferential Treatment
Domestic trade laws can broadly be classified as laws: (1) authorizing trade remedies (including for trade agreement violations and antidumping and countervailing duties); (2) setting domestic tariff rates and providing special duty-free or preferential tariff treatment for certain products; and (3) authorizing the imposition of trade sanctions to protect U.S. security or achieve other policy goals.
Among the federal agencies and entities charged with overseeing the development of new trade agreements and the administration and enforcement of federal trade laws are the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the International Trade Administration (ITA), the International Trade Commission (ITC), the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the United States Court of International Trade (CIT).
(Report dated 06/29/10)